Thousands miss out on teaching jobs over low KCSE grades

Teachers Service Commission Secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni during a past press conference.

By James Mbaka

The ongoing recruitment of teachers has created a crisis for thousands of graduates who cannot be employed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

It has emerged that colleges are churning out graduates who do not meet TSC employment policy guidelines.

All teachers who were admitted to university with a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education grade “C” for diploma training are not eligible for employment by the Commission.

This week, TSC Secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni told a Senate committee that the Commission would not employ teachers who did not score a minimum of grade C+ in KCSE.

“The government has set a minimum grade of C+ for one to join university. It is a C+. If you don’t have it, we will not employ you. You should go back and do your KCSE,” said Longoiboni on Thursday.

Currently, most public and private universities admit students with a minimum of grade C for diploma training courses.

In this year’s January intake, a university in Nyanza asked applicants with a C (plain) mean grade and at least a C (plain) in English and Kiswahili to apply for school based programmes.

A public university in Nairobi advertised school based diploma programmes intake for 2012, asking students with a diploma from recognised institutions and an aggregate of C in KCSE to apply.

Unqualified graduates

In Western and Rift Valley, public universities also demanded that all students seeking to pursue diploma courses have a minimum requirement of grade C plain in KCSE.

Universities say the requirements are set by the Joint Admissions Board in consultation with TSC but the Commission now says it will not absorb trained teachers who scored less than a C+ in their Form Four exams.

Some universities could be offering courses to unqualified students in blatant contravention of existing clear cut policies and guidelines, thus rendering their graduates unqualified to teach in secondary schools.

Speaking when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Education, Lengoiboni told Senators that the TSC will only recruit teachers with the required minimum qualifications. He also said that it will not employ postgraduate degree holders in Education who did not score a minimum of C+ at KCSE.

The warning dashed the hopes of thousands of P1 certificate holders currently teaching in primary schools of ever teaching in secondary schools after finishing their degree programmes.

The constitution mandates the TSC to set, monitor and review standards for teachers and ensure that their recruitment is in accordance with policy guidelines. Chapter 13 states that, “TSC shall review the standard of education and training of persons entering the teaching service and advise the nation on matters relating to the teaching profession.”

TSC requirements

It seems the adherence to set guidelines for training of secondary school teachers by universities has not been done.

This situation is now forcing graduates to incur extra costs to undertake enhancement programmes to meet the TSC employment requirements.

Majority of students seeking university admission to train as secondary school teachers are often convinced by the institutions’ management that they do meet the entry requirements.

“I was assured by the university when I was admitted that there was no course for panic. But I have since thrice been turned away for not being qualified,” says Joseph Njoroge who graduated with Kiswahili and CRE as his teaching subjects from Kisii University.

Njoroge was for the fourth time turned away by TSC when he lined up hoping to secure a job in the ongoing countrywide recruitment of teachers

“They told me am not qualified to teach CRE since I never studied it in high school,” says Njoroge.

He will now be forced to undertake an enhancement programme to better his chances of recruitment when he applies for a fifth time.

Given that he never studied CRE in high school, Njoroge will never be a CRE teacher. He can only opt to study units of a separate subject combination with Kiswahili in order to be a qualified secondary school teacher.

Those affected also include those who scored lower grades in high school for the subjects they wish to teach.

According to TSC guidelines, one is only allowed to teach in secondary schools in Kenya if they studied the subjects they want to teach in high school and passed them with at least a C+ grade.

Additionally one must have scored at least a mean grade of C+ in KCSE to join the teaching service in Kenya. These guidelines apply for both diploma in secondary education holders and graduate teachers.

This policy notwithstanding, some universities still continue to admit students with lower grades to undertake courses aimed at granting them a degree in teaching.

For instance, students with a mean grade of C (plain) are studying for diplomas in secondary education. Although they may have a C plus in their teaching subjects, they are not qualified to teach in secondary schools if they didn’t pass their Form Four exams with a minimum C+ mean grade.

Sensitive matter

This means that thousands of students could end up not joining the teaching service unless they take enhancement programmes at an extra cost. For the unlucky ones, they must go back to college to study for the additional relevant units.

Contacted, Kisii University Vice Chancellor Professor John Akama said the issue is sensitive and is being handled by the Council of University Vice-Chancellors. “You should ask the TSC why they are not employing such students. I can tell you the issue has been raised in the meetings of our university vice chancellors and it will be sorted out,” he said.

Professor Constantine Nyamboga, principal of Mount Kenya University, Kisii campus, said the university complies with the TSC requirements. “We have complied with the guidelines and our work now is to provide quality education to our students.”

But our investigations revealed that over 5,000 students at various campuses in Kisii are enrolled for diplomas in secondary school education without meeting the required grades.  A diploma in secondary education costs between Sh30,000 and Sh40,000 per semester for two to three years.